Alert archive / Alabama / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 3, NWS Mobile, AL

March 2, 1989Baldwin County, Alabama

NWS Mobile, AL issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 2, 1989, 1:20 PM CST for Baldwin County, Alabama. It was in force for 25 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Mar 2, 1989, 1:20 PM CST (19:20 UTC)
Expired
Mar 2, 1989, 1:45 PM CST
In force
25 min
Issued by
NWS Mobile, AL
Area
Whole counties

County Baldwin County, AL

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Slidell Radar S, LA (KSIL), launched 12:00Z, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 192 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Slidell Radar S, LA at 12:00Z on 1989-03-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Slidell Radar S, LA at 12:00Z on 1989-03-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 212 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
660 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
69 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
212 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
321 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KMOB 021922
SVRMOB
ALC003-021945-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
120 PM CST THU MAR 2 1989
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MOBILE HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  145 PM CST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN SOUTHWEST ALABAMA
          ...SOUTHERN BALDWIN
 
AT 115 PM MOBILR RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM BETWEEN GULF
SHORES AND ORANGE BEACH. IT WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH. IT WILL
BE MOVING INTO THE JOSEPHINE...PERDIDO BEACH...AND ORANGE BEACH AREAS
IN THE NEXT 20 MINUTES.
 
THIS STORM HAS ALREADY DROPPED MARBLE SIZED HAIL ON HIGHWAY 59 JUST
NORTH OF GULF SHORES.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DON'T USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Mar 2, 10:56 AM CST, 2 hours 24 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOBILE AL
1055 AM CST THU MAR 2 1989

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER COASTAL ALABAMA AND MISSISSIPPI...

STRONG THUDERSTORMS WITH INTENSE RAINFALL WERE MOVING THROUGH GEORGE
COUNTY OF SOUTHEAST MISSISSIPPI AND MOBILE COUNTY OF SOUTHWEST ALABAMA.
AT 1050 AM MOBILE RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS FROM 10 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF LUCEDALE MISSISSIPPI TO MOBILE ALABAMA. THE THUNDERSTORMS
WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE HEAVY DOWNPOURS...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING
AND GUSTY WINDS.

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Alabama, 1989Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1989

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.